Richard Spencer - International Combat Authority - ICA

Just done a random search on Spencer and the ICA and got the following on Google:

Looks like Spencer has been activily trying to recruit ex-server folk as instructors in the ICA (as per previous posts)

I did click on the website and it appears to be "down for maintenence".

I will see if it comes back.

I'm not sure if anyone can shed any light on what other marketing he has done to ex-forces personnel?

Also - can any ex-services folk suggest any ways in which this thread can be bought to the attention of service staff who have either left the forces or a looking to do so as way of avoiding being suckered into the ICA?

I think Rock Ape you mentioned about forces magazines - would they be interested on reporting on this thread as well as Spencer and the ICA??

I obtained your email address from the Soldier Magazine website, please forgive this unsolicited email however I feel I have some cautionary information which you may consider news worthy to your readership, both current serving and ex-military members, relating to an individual and his business, whom appears to be focusing on, and scamming former members of the British Forces and, possibly falsely obtaining money from organisations who support the resettlement of army personnel.

For transparency, I’d like to introduce myself:

[ information about me and my current background redacted here ]

My contact details are included at the bottom of this email.

I am a voluntary staff member on a consumer advocacy website : www.bullshido.net The site primarily focuses on martial arts and is arguably one of the most popular martial arts internet based resources with in excess of 150 thousands members globally.

We were recently made aware of a gentleman by the name of Richard Spencer, operating a company known as the International Combat Authority. www.combatauthority.com

Mr. Spencer operates a company offering close quarter combat courses pitched at ex-military/law enforcement/security personnel. What caused our initial interest in Mr. Spencer was his relatively short Regular Army career (four years) yet his very public claims of service with 29 Commando as Captain. In addition, Mr. Spencer claimed in the public domain to have trained with both Russian and Israeli Special Forces within that short career time frame.

We undertook some initial research on Mr. Spencer and over a relatively short period of time we've made contact with a number of former army personnel who appear to have been duped by Mr. Spencer, at least two of these claim that the Royal British Legion have provided financial assistance in funding for Mr. Spencer’s courses where no certification on completion of the courses has been forthcoming. Indeed at least two have additionally stated they were offered jobs with the International Combat Authority on completion and payment for their respective courses, apparently without substance.

The volume of information we've researched on Mr. Spencer is now quite extensive, far too much to fully summarise here. I’d like to extend an invite to you to review the material we’ve gathered on Mr. Spencer and his activities and if you feel there’d be some value in alerting your membership in some way, we’d be more than happy to make all of that material available to you.

At this stage, we’re not aware of any legal proceedings against Richard Spencer in respect of his dealings with others however, we’ve noted that since reporting him to HMRC and bringing the matter to the attention of BBC Business News Wales, Mr. Spencer’s business website has since shut down, stating “Under construction” and most of Spencer’s previous internet footprint has been radically edited to remove aspects under question.

My purpose in contacting you today rests firmly with the military connection, it is clear to me that Mr. Spencer has targeted ex-military as a source of funding for his courses and I’d like, if at all possible, for as many serving and ex-mil personnel to be aware of the issues we’ve discovered, thus be in an informed position before potentially loosing large sums of money paying for a course which may ultimately be worthless in the civilian employment sector.

I would very much welcome the opportunity to discuss this with your further if you feel this would be news worthy, I’m sure we can put you in direct contact with the people who’ve since come forward with their personal accounts and experiences of Richard Spencer and his company.

You will note that within this information, an image which appears on face value, to be your November 12 edition of your publication, the cover page is a photograph of Richard Spencer and the International Combat Authority, we’re aware this is a fake, but we’d like to state, at this stage we’re not sure if this image was ever publically used on Spencer’s business website or other internet footprint however, he have discovered at least three other instances where material (written and photographic) has been altered in a similar way, then presented on the International Combat Authority’s website. That image can be seen here: http://www.bullshido.net/forums/show...39#post2786339

I generally feel like we've run a fair amount with our research, definitely enough to produce a worthwhile and detailed write-up.

I'm proposing that we use this point as a temp cut-off so that we can start concluding the investigation write-up, then... As and when further information surfaces or we see other developments, we can edit the existing .Org entry.

At this time, Matt and myself are directly involved in this and when the draft version is ready, it will be passed to the site's legal team for vetting and approval. Only then will it be posted in the investigation section.

Naturally this thread will remain in MABS and linked to the write-up.

Matt, I'll PM you with a proposed timeline.

In the meantime, please keep up with researching/posting here and keep an eye on Spencer's internet footprint. Post any changes you notive including links and screen caps.